Preparing for Results!

Often times for some inexplicable reason, web site textual content creation is slapped on the desks of Webmasters and Site Developers. Why this happens, I'm not entirely sure, as this is clearly a company-wide conspiracy to off-load out-of-the-box thinking to the people who already work too hard. Not to mention it is the job of the Marketing Department in any organization to provide textual content to the Webmasters, unless of course the topic is of a "technical" nature. Positioning and formatting text is one thing, creating it is another. So now that our job is clearly defined, what is the best way to format this meaningful text in order to:

a) best suit the site's layout.

b) best suit the search engine spiders to ensure good search engine results?

To start, you'll need to have a good understanding of the overall theme (mission statement), and knowledge of how the site needs to operate functionally (many meetings). Once you are armed with this information, you can begin to "prioritize" the layout. One major thing to keep in mind is that any search engine spider visiting your site reads left to right and top down. Also, some of them will only index the first 25k-50k of a page, so from that standpoint it makes sense to put as much of your meaningful text as possible near the top of your page. Title tags (less than 75 characters) and description tags (less than 150 characters) should contain keywords relating to the site's content and should be readable to humans. Also, use image "alt" tags as much as possible. Insert phrases with relevant keywords in them.

Remember to follow three simple guidelines that will ensure your site is user friendly - keep it: FAST, CLEAN, and PLEASANT. Also, let your visitors dictate what your site needs to a degree; and you'll be sure to please your audience. Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of advertising...